What a strange sensation to see a Copa America final at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires without the Argentinean national team!

What a strange sensation to see the stadium full of Uruguayans and Paraguayans cheering on their teams at the final without the host nation!

But it is and was like this, a final with deserving rivals. And a Champion with all the honors...

Uruguay, with its solid, powerful and fighting football, where you see that each player knows what he has to do. And the most important thing is the group is absolutely convinced that what it does is for the best interests of the team.

Diego Forlan joins his father and grandfather as a Copa America winner.

A serious team, well-organized, with a higher level of concentration who practice a modern football where the strikers are the first line of defense when the opponent's attack, and the defenders are the first line of attack when the team goes forward.

Surely without individual luxuries, but with the necessary individual solidarity to lift the team, to find a teammate in a better position when it's necessary or to support him otherwise.

With an important level of motivation, with hunger of glory, despite that many of those players play for foreign club teams. They practice a humble football, without petty jealousies of their comrades, without thinking about anything else except defending their honor, the pride and the footballing history of a country, their country.

A manager along the same lines, serious, responsible, humble, without outbursts or shouts, the "Maestro" Oscar Tabarez, a school teacher as he defines himself. An honest man with much experience at the club level and with many years at the helm of Uruguay.

As often happens, this championship for Uruguay was surely the fruit of of a pyramid on the part of the Uruguayan football directors. The project was carried forward by a manager and ends with those players who properly interpreted that project and took it to fruition.

It seems sensible, it seems logical, but it isn't like this. In a football world where businesses dictate the play, where money controls everything, where excuses trump the truth, to find a champion like this one that befriends the real football, without going backward, without pettiness and without philosophical explanations.

Mirror Image of What is Right with Uruguay and Wrong With Others

It is comforting to see a champion such as Uruguay, an absolutely deserving champion, from all points of view, from every angle, a mirror where you should look at the missing potential of this Copa America final looking back into the future.

Congratulations to Uruguayan football, your history is applauded, your country is proud and the continent respects you as very deserving champions.

About The Author

Oscar Amoia is a financial professional from Buenos Aires, Argentina who grew up in the neighborhood of La Boca. Oscar is a socio vitalicio, or lifetime member, of C.A. Boca Juniors. He has contributed commentaries at the International Herald Tribune 2006 World Cup Fan Blog, Soccerlens and World Football Commentaries. You can read his other commentaries here.

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